In a variety of product applications, some connectors are required to be disposed circumferentially. Therefore, electrical connectors are known in the art, which are mounted on a circular carrier and provide electrical connection with certain elements of electronic circuitry mounted on another carrier.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,105 discloses an integrated circuit package of circular cross-section incorporating a stack of semiconductor wafers mounted on respective insulated carriers. To provide electrical contacts with respective silicon chips, each carrier has a plurality of pins mating with a corresponding plurality of pins on a base plate. These pins protrude through respective through holes drilled in each carrier, and the male end of the pin is mated with the female end of the respective pin secured to the succeeding carrier.
U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/210,825 filed on Mar. 18, 1994, and assigned to the Assignee of the present invention, discloses circumferentially-spaced electrical connectors for the assembly of a stacked array of two or more parallel circuit boards, wherein all of the electrical interconnections and mechanical connections are provided between the respective circuit boards.
In this pending '825 application, a plurality of first connectors is mounted to top surfaces of all circuit boards (except for the topmost board) at connector sites that, upon appropriate arrangement of the circuit boards into their positions within the assembly, will be vertically aligned or stacked. The first connectors preferably are disposed at the outer edges or periphery of each board, thus surrounding an interior area of the board's top surface containing a plurality of selected electrical and electronic components mounted thereto. For economy of real estate on the circuit boards, the connectors are arcuately shaped to complement the circular shape of the boards' peripheries. A plurality of second connectors is mounted to the top surface of the topmost board about its periphery aligned with associated stacks of first connectors of the other boards upon final assembly, and each second connector preferably defines an imperforate board-remote surface rather than a mating face.
Further, in this pending '825 application all first connectors possess a common length and width dimensions and extend a common selected height from the board-proximate faces thereof to an opposed mating face, with the arrays of contacts being disposed in vertical passageways thereof. The contacts of each array extend from socket contact sections exposed along the connector mating face to post sections depending below the board-proximate faces to extend through respective through-holes of the associated board for mating with the socket contact sections of the connector therebeneath.
Moreover, certain applications of connectors sometimes require that respective electrical and mechanical connections between a plurality of mating plugs and sockets be provided even if the plugs and sockets change their interposition. For instance, if a connector assembly is intended to be used as an interconnect between a main housing and heating coils, which are located inside a sensor or indicator housing of an aircraft, the same connectors have to be mated even when the main housing is rotated a certain angle and positioned on an opposite side of the aircraft.
In these product applications, it would be desirable to provide a two-ring connector assembly, wherein a plug ring includes a set of contact blades, and wherein a receptacle ring includes two sets of receptacle slots, such that the set of contact blades may be received in either one of the sets of receptacle slots, thereby providing the required flexibility in the contacts mating.